Landfall
by Nomsheep
Summary: something something


Landfall

Through the trees

Her breathing slowly became deeper as she was forced to continue her journey through the never-ending woodlands slowly closing in around her. A vast expanse of deep greens, purples and bright reds surrounded and confused her, both calming and terrifying in the same breath, offering to engulf her entirely in the blackness of night, allowing her to become one with them.

Hewas following her, always following.

 _He was real, he was death and he was coming._

From deep within the forest the sickly sweet smell of the unfortunate floated before her, along with the screams of others yet to come. She had watched entranced as it had taken everything she had ever loved, everyone she had ever cared for, stood by and watched as it too every last shred of her sanity and now, despite her best efforts, despite everything it had come back for her. She finally realised that death was ever patient, ever vigilant and always there to seize the moment you fall. No-one can escape death forever. It'll just keep it's steady pace and wait for the moment you tire,

But now...

 _Death had lost its patience._

She was back in this filthy place, it stank of peat and faeces, the trees had slowly thinned and vanished and she found herself sprinting through the bogs of her childhood, disease ridden , plains invested with depraved monsters and brutal men with sick desires. Now it was all coming back, not content with taking everything else they had returned to collect her life as well. She was grateful when the bogs began to fade and before long she was once again tearing through the forest. Blind panic had allowed her to get this far and it would continue to serve her well.

They were behind her, following at a steady pace, the beasts who had taken her mother. She could hear them, they were death and they were coming. The dark moonlit forest began to rush past her so quickly that the bright vibrant colours began to meld into one solid slab of black, she no longer cared enough to distinguish, nor was enough of her able to focus on anything except leaving them behind.  
The small part of her that hadn't been overwhelmed by the panic and the fear of her surroundings tried to focus. It forced her mind to think.

Then the hallucinations began, she could see them up ahead of her. Suddenly she could feel them inside of her, in her head gnawing at the back of her eyes, in her stomach gorging them selves upon her shattered and tender body.

A blood- curdling scream erupted from her mouth as she forced her exhausted form to go faster. By something close to a miracle she was able to maintain this pace for a good few minutes more. Her fear had entirely blinded her now, she saw nothing except a haze of red descend upon her vision, brambles tore at her clothes, branches whipped at her skin and creatures bit at her legs.  
A tree appeared to rise out of the red and into her path, but she couldn't move out of the way and collided with it. Her nose shattered on impact and the blood began to pour down her face. The force of the collision drove her backwards of her feet. Her ears began to ring and her body filled with relief having been given a chance to rest. She knew that there was no getting away now. She had come to the end of her path. She had given him the chance he needed.

Finally she had fallen.

*****  
The boy stopped, put his paper down and breathed deeply before speaking.

"And that miss, is as far as I got. "Imperial calendar date: 993

In the colds depths of outer space just above the small relic world of Landfall, the dark expanse opened for a few brief seconds and in a blinding flash of light the small frigate _Firedrake_ began to appear in real space. The sound echoed for miles around as space itself began to peel and tear. At first it was small and then it slowly grew larger till then bow of a ship began to pop through, then it widened faster as the ship forced its ways way though. As quickly as it had opened the hole closed.

The Firedrake began to drift lazily towards the nearest centre of gravity. She was completely black with only the blood red Symbol of the Imperium stretched across her bow. With one side of the double headed eagle on each half of her pointed nose. She slowed to a halt and began to hover ominously in orbit over the small planet in front of her.

In all honesty referring to Landfall as a planet was rather generous, for it was the smallest planet in this sector barely larger than the mainland of terra. At its heart was one large city within which lived the greater percentage of its native population. Around this was a thick blanket of deadly inhabitable forest and noxious bogs, in amongst these more inhospitable areas were a few small colonies in which barely a few thousand citizens lived.

Inside the war-room of the ship three towering astartes sat around a large table. The men were all dressed up in full battle gear to highlight the severity of the situation; each of these men was a peerless leader in his own field. The first of these men was first captain Ailolo clad in an immense suit of tactical dreadnought armour. The second was emissary to the second captain and was swathed in the robes of an imperial apothecary, this man had failed his chapter and was no longer worthy of a name, and the third a basic line leader named Sergeant Plato was donned in the basic power armour of the astartes. Eight chairs were left empty, a painful reminder to all of their recent failures.

No-one spoke as the man in the tactical dreadnought armour stood up and walked to the front of the table. The towering monster then raised his hands to the ceiling. Next to him a servitor began to project the man's thoughts to the group.

"My brother, this filthy heretical xeno world contains an item of immense power and with it we can finally destroy our enemies once and for all. With it we will destroy the great enemy."

The men sat around the table nodded but did not speak.

A small menial came up and timidly handed a bunch of scrolls and data-slates to the astartes at the head of the table. He then lent forwards and rolled out some battle plans and began to show the others what they needed to do.

 _Thus the brotherhood of silence planned the doom of landfall._

Down on the surface of the planet a blinding green light flared briefly as a stone arch burst in to life and a shimmering portal opened as a streak of blues and purples poured into real space and raced onwards in search of life howling and screaming their bloodlust and hunger for souls as they went.

Finally after all the others had exited and moved on their way a final and extremely ancient vehicle came through the portal. It stopped and waited for the rest to get a good head start before continuing on. The other vehicles were all of a much newer design, they were sleek and smooth giving better protection to the soldiers it harboured within.

This craft, this Raider was a relic from a time long since past far more pointed and vicious looking than the others. The ridged sides were lower and allowed for a much better view from which to drink in the misery that would surround them.

A regal and lithe form watched her precious children and listened to their maniacal cackling with an insane grin on her alabaster face. The armour she wore was another relic from long ago, it barely offered any protection. It was merely a shoulder pad and relatively small chest piece. A flowing robe of deep purple stretched down her back and onto the deck of the craft, its hem held up by two human slaves, lest it get dirty on the deck.

A group of women surrounded her each beautiful and each deadly. Every one of them carried a pair of wickedly sharp blades dripping with a poisonous white substance. Her name was Archon Accalia and as she ran her own tongue slicing it open she watched as thousands of her warriors headed off into the distance and her dark soulless eyes glowed with pride as she thought of the horrors they would inflict.

As the gate rumbled into silence again, she gave the order and followed her children.

 _The kabal of the burning flame had come to landfall._

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End file.
